Eastern Clapper Lark

SCI Name:  Mirafra fasciolata
Protonym:  Alauda fasciolata Oefv.Vet.-Akad.Forh. 26["1869"] 26["1869"], 7 p. 99
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Alaudidae / Mirafra
Taxonomy Code:  eaclar1
Type Locality:  'Caffraria superiore''; type from north of the Vaal River, Transvaal.
Author:  Sundevall
Publish Year:  1850
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MIRAFRA
(Alaudidae; Ϯ Horsfield's Bush Lark M. javanica) Horsfield made great use of Javanese names, but this does not appear to be one of them (cf. Malay name Merfa for a babbler (see Malacopteron)). According to Agassiz 1842-1846, mirafra is from a native tongue. Gotch 1981, writes that the name is from L. mirus wonderful, and Afra African; the first part of this etymology may be correct, but although most forms occur in the Afrotropics Horsfield’s Bush Lark does not; "MIRAFRA ... The characters in which this genus differs from Alauda are a more robust, conical and arched bill, round nares nearly naked, and a proportionally short claw to the posterior toe. The sides of the beak, between the back (culmen) and cutting edges (tomia) are somewhat convex. In this character it has greater affinity to Fringilla than to Alauda, the bill of which is often subulate (as in Sylvia), while the nares are covered.  Mirafra, although it greatly resembles Calandra, differs from it in possessing the spurious remex, and in having the four instead of the three first remiges elongated  ...  Mirafra Javanica ...  Branjangan Javanis." (Horsfield 1821); "Mirafra Horsfield, 1821, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 13, pt. 1, p. 159. Type, by monotypy, Mirafra javanica Horsfield." (Peters 1960, IX, 3).    
Var. Miraffra, Mirafa, Myrafra.   
Synon. Africorys, Amirafra, Anacorys, Brachonyx, Corypha, Croteoptera, Etoimus, Geocoraphus, Megalophonus, Neomirafra, Plocealauda, Spilocorydon.

mirafra
Genus Mirafra Horsfield, 1821, bush lark (syn. Mirafra javanica).

fasciolata / fasciolatus
Med. L. fasciolatus  bandaged  < L. fasciola  little band  < dim. fascia  band.

SUBSPECIES

Eastern Clapper Lark (reynoldsi)
SCI Name: Mirafra fasciolata reynoldsi
reynoldsi
● Percival William Reynolds (1904-1940) British ornithologist, explorer (subsp. Curaeus curaeus).
● Prof. Barrie Gordon Robert Reynolds (b. 1932) British ethnologist in Rhodesia/Zambia 1955-1966, Canada 1968-1975, and Australia 1975-1998 (OD per Björn Bergenholtz) (subsp. Mirafra apiata).

Eastern Clapper Lark (jappi)
SCI Name: Mirafra fasciolata jappi
jappi
Richard Glennie Japp (1928-2001) South African mine official, naturalist, collector (subsp. Mirafra apiata).

Eastern Clapper Lark (nata)
SCI Name: Mirafra fasciolata nata
nata
Nata, north-eastern Bechuanaland (= Botswana) (cf. L. nata daughter < nasci to be born).

Eastern Clapper Lark (deserti)
SCI Name: Mirafra fasciolata deserti
deserta / desertae / deserti
L. desertum  desert, waste, solitude  < deserere  to abandon.
● Desertas Is., Madeira (Pterodroma).
● Erroneous TL. South Africa (= New Zealand); "113. MUSCICAPA.  ...  deserti.  92.  ...  Muscicapa fuliginosa.  Sparrm. mus. Carls. 2. t. 47.   Habitat in Africae deserto inter fluvium Hevy et fontem Quammedacka intermedio" (J. Gmelin 1789) (syn. Rhipidura fuliginosa).

Eastern Clapper Lark (fasciolata)
SCI Name: Mirafra fasciolata fasciolata
fasciolata / fasciolatus
Med. L. fasciolatus  bandaged  < L. fasciola  little band  < dim. fascia  band.